mallet
[mal-it]
- a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface.
- the wooden implement used to strike the balls in croquet.
- Polo. the long-handled stick, or club, used to drive the ball.
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Origin of mallet
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mallet
Contemporary Examples
Carlos Gracida 53, was killed in a freak accident, after his horse was hit on the head by another player's mallet.
“If they [the owners] want to get their tires, that will have to be negotiated,” said Mallet.
He had to use his mallet to push himself back on board his polo pony, according to a report in today's Daily Express.
Historical Examples
I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than three minutes after we got alongside.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
A stroke of the mallet may be more effective than the sculptor had hoped; but it was intended.
A Dish Of OrtsGeorge MacDonald
But the chisel slipped, the mallet fell too heavily, and he stopped.
The ManxmanHall Caine
mallet
- a tool resembling a hammer but having a large head of wood, copper, lead, leather, etc, used for driving chisels, beating sheet metal, etc
- a long stick with a head like a hammer used to strike the ball in croquet or polo
- mainly US a very large powerful steam locomotive with a conventional boiler but with two separate articulated engine units
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French maillet wooden hammer, diminutive of mail maul (n)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for mallet
n.
late 14c., from Old French maillet "mallet, small wooden hammer, door-knocker," diminutive of mail, from Latin malleus "a hammer," from PIE *mal-ni-, from root *mele-, *mel- "to crush, grind," with derivatives referring to ground material and tools for grinding (cf. Hittite mallanzi "they grind;" Armenian malem "I crush, bruise;" Greek malakos "soft," mylos "millstone;" Latin molere "to grind," mola "millstone, mill," milium "millet;" Old English melu "meal, flour;" Albanian miel "meal, flour;" Old Church Slavonic meljo, Lithuanian malu "to grind;" Old Church Slavonic mlatu, Russian molotu "hammer").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper